Customer Reviews

The Outlaw Viking (Timeswept)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the 2nd book in the Viking series. Here we meet Ruby Jordan and Thork's daughter from the first book (The Reluctant Viking), Thoraine Jordan, or Rain.

Rain and her mother go to the famous archeological dig going on at the ancient Coppergate site in England in 1999. Rain sees an intriging painting of a Norse Viking warrior raising his sword against the enemies in a battle known as the "Great Battle" between the Saxons and the Vikings in the tenth century. It is the last battle between the two that resulted in the Saxon rule over the Vikings.

Rain is fasinated by the picture and her mother recognizes the man in the painting. The next day, Rain is so intrigued, she goes back to the painting to get a better look and suddenly is swept into the battle raging on in the portrait. Dr. Rain Jordan meets the man from the picture and knows him as Selik, her father's friend. She saves his life on the field, but he doesn't trust her.

Selik has been through utter dispair and misery these past 10 years since a terrible atrocity was inflicted upon him and his family. Selik knows nothing but revenge. He was once a proud and vain man, but the ravages of war and the horrible things he has endured have made him a bitter and "ugly" man. Rain knows she was sent back in time to save this desperate man, but will she need someone to save her from him?

I loved this story. I liked it more than the first book for the extra humor Sandra Hill is known for and the sexy and irrisistable heroes she creates. It is filled with Viking history and details not found in many historical romances. You can almost smell the city of Jorvik (York) and see the many peoples and things she describes. It is WELL worth the time and money spent on this EXCELLENT book, the whole series is worth more than 5 stars!

1. The Reluctant Viking---2. The Outlaw Viking---3. The Tarnished Lady---4. The Bewitched Viking

Tracy Talley~@

This book has it ALL- humor,sex,romance,and even a bit of violence! It had me laughing and crying and cringing. Mrs.Hill is an absolute wonder,she definately knows what readers want.

This is the second book in the viking series. this is Rain's story. She is the Daughter of Ruby and Thork from "The Reluctant Viking". Selik, Thorks friend from the first book is the hero.

The book starts off with Ruby and Rain visiting York in modern times. Rain is a doctor and 30yrs old. Ruby's husband Jack who was the look alike for Thork has passed away. They decide to visit because York has set up a museum of old Viking artifacts. When Rain sees one painting of Selik she knows that he is the man who has haunted her dreams for years. She goes back on her own and is transported back in time to the very battle the picture represented. She sees Selik fighting like a mad man and rescues him from the attacking Saxons.

Selik is no longer the handsome man Ruby knew. He is battle scarred and has scars that no one sees on his heart. He takes her captive but lets her treat the injured including a young Tykir, her half brother. Selik doesn't really believe the story she tells about being from the future but after a time he comes to accept it as the truth.

Selik is a wanted man and must take himself off to protect Rain but she won't have any of that. She decides that she is there to save him and save him she shall, even if he doesn't want to be saved. Along the way we get to meet Adam, who I hope gets his own book and we also find out what happens to some old friends.

I really liked the humor that Sandra Hill puts into her tales. The passionate love scenes could burn the paper they are written on. All in all this was a good book and hard to put down.

I read this book first...then bought the others in the series...I just love the fact that the series is different from other historical romances. They are funny and interesting and worth reading over and over.

Thirty-year-old Rain Jordan's story begins with her death. A pacifist doctor, Rain visits a Viking museum with her mother, Ruby, who claims to have traveled back in time to the Viking settlement enshrined by the museum's displays. While she is there, Rain sees a painting with a handsome blond Viking warrior in the middle of a battle and realizes that he is the man who has been haunting her dreams for years. Her mother identifies him as Selik, a handsome young lothario and Jomsviking who befriended her when she visited his time.

Rain is inexplicably drawn back to the museum the next day, wanting to view the violent scene in painting alone. While staring at the handsome Viking warrior on the canvas, she is apparently killed by some falling ceiling plaster. But she is dead only in the present day. God sends her spirit back to the year 937 A.D.--right in the middle of the Battle of Brunanburh as depicted in the painting. And we know that it was God who sent her back because Rain spends the rest of the book having internal discussions with Him about why she is there and what she should do.

Apparently what she is supposed to do is save Selik, who went berserk after his wife and child were tortured and killed ten years before by a Saxon noble called Steven of Gravely. The problem is that Selik doesn't want to be saved. He is hell-bent on avenging his family and then dying because he feels there is nothing left in this world for him. Now physically scarred and free of his Jomsviking vows, Selik is the classic tortured soul in need of redemption, the wounded heart that must be healed. The pacifist and the warrior share an instant attraction that progresses into love. Brutal though he is, Selik shows he is capable of restraint and compromise with Rain. But he is not willing to give up his quest for vengeance against the man responsible for the deaths of his family, even though it is a barrier to his relationship with Rain. Eventually, this quest leads to both Selik and Ruby being captured and abused by his nemesis and it is only after both are nearly killed that Selik must face the potential consequences of his obsession--and choose his priorities.

Through their experiences together and the growth of their relationship, both eventually realize that their extreme views are wrong and learn to be more flexible and understanding. Rain is able to give up her life in the future and Selik his life in the past so that they are able to build a present together. And they live happily ever after once the story ends, I suppose. I know that I lived more happily once the story ended--and not in a good way.

There are two immutables concerning the characters in romance novels. One is that the reader is supposed to fall in love with the hero. Oh, did Sandra excel here! The other is that the reader must sympathize with the heroine, perhaps envy her and wish to be her or know her. Oh, did Sandra fail here! Most of the other characters in the book didn't particularly care for Rain (notable exceptions being Ubbi and the children, society's castoffs). She is shrewish, immature, judgmental, demanding and lacking in good judgment in her words and deeds, and all of this despite being thirty years old and intellectually accomplished. I gritted my teeth to finish this book and I closed the back cover glad to end my acquaintance with Rain. Had there been a more likable heroine I would have enjoyed and recommended this book. As it is written, however, I do not consider it a worthy sequel to the cute story of Ruby's adventures and I regret the waste of my time and money.

A little problem of 1000+ years between these two very passionate lovers doesn't make any difference, the fact that Rain had to travel back in time only adds to the storyline. I was so pleased to read about the characters from A RELUCTANT VIKING. It made it all the more enjoyable, especially Tikir and Eirik. These two are Rain's half brothers. They are also her two brothers in the future (Dave and Eddie). The first time she claps eyes on Tikir he is about to have his leg amputated. She does a brilliant job of saving him using accipuncture in place of anasthetic.

Ubbi, a servant of Selik's is an absolute delight. He thinks Rain is an angel sent from god to save his master. They get into a lot of scrapes especially when they kidnap Selik for his own good. Though he doesn't see it that way.

After being captured and tortured, Selik comes to an arrangement with the King and is alowed to stay in Britain. Selik comes after Rain. He is told by Adam that Rain is going home to her own time if she can, so he chases after her in the hope of persuading her to stay. Rain refuses because she thinks Selik has not given up his desire for vengence again Steven of Gravely. He builds her a house, clinic and an orphanage in the hope of persuading her to stay. He even promises her a dozen children of their own, to add to the dozen or so they already have in the orphanage. With all that being offered to you, who could turn him down. I know I couldn't, could you.

Thank you Sandra, you never disapoint me with your books. Keep it up.

Sandra Hill really exploded me into her writing with this one. If you want to get really involved with the characters in a romance then pick up this book and find a quiet corner (believe me, you want to be away from stares when you start laughing out loud and dripping tears on the paper) Each character has a uniqueness that surpasses the flat dimensions of writing and enter you into the world of pure *storytelling*. Rain and Selik collide with a sense of inevitability, not to mention spark and humour, right from the beginning - and don't let up.

Along with a sometimes surprising plot-line Ms Hill has given us all what we really want - a love that sizzles, heroes that stick in our mind, and a bucket-load of laughs. Really, how could anyone refuse that??!

I just finished this book for the third time and I was thinking what a wonderful story it would be to hear abour the little boy Adam. All grown up and on his own. Then today I noticed that Hill's newest book is about a man named Adam. I can't wait to read it. I've enjoyed all of these books in the viking series. Each time I read the latest it's like catching up on old times with an old friend. Keep up the beautiful work Miss Hill !!!!

This is the second in a 2-book mini-series within the series. The first book introduces Rain's mother who has also traveled back, way back in time.

This book while it has its moments of humor is more of a tear-jerker than anything else. I have re-read this book at least 25 times and I still can't help tearing up or out and out crying during several well written and emotional scenes.
These are two extremely well developed and believable characters. I enjoys the fact that Rain sticks to her modern ethics and beliefs no matter how difficult doing so during this violent time and place. Selik also sticks to his guns but since this is a book mostly for females, he does change a bit to accommodate Rains feelings about certain things.

I loved this book even more than the first one and I DO recommend that you read The Reluctant Viking first, to get yourself up to speed. Sandra Hill is an amazing author of this genre, but I do find that I like her earlier books much more than I do the later ones in this long running series.

I am including most of Sandra Hill's viking serries in this review as I have now purchased and read most of them and have enjoyed all of them a great deal- I find them really entertaining, humourous I laughed to myself during reading many a time, they were heart warming once I started reading I had to keep going I did not wont to put them down until finished. Extremly well written, I would recomend to one and all-very enjoyable reading.